SAN ANTONIO — Korey King distanced himself from the raucous Fort Bend Marshall crowd celebrating the 19-17 victory over Corpus Christi Calallen on Friday night at Farris Stadium.

The receiver stood alone near the end of the field clutching the No. 3 jersey Drew Conley wore.

The Buffalos had been trying to balance grieving and preparing for a Class 5A Division II semifinal this week after news of Conley's death. The 17-year-old senior safety was allegedly shot by his uncle following a dispute Monday night at a southwest Houston home.

"It's an honor to just come out here and compete for our brother," King said. "To just conquer the goal. It's a blessing, man. We know if he was here, he'd be excited with us."

Calallen's disciplined defense and Wing-T offense wore down Marshall on Friday. But the Buffs (15-0) had been through too much to let it wear out their season.

The Buffs are a step closer to becoming the second Fort Bend ISD team to win a football state title. Willowridge won the first in 1982.

Marshall tailback Devon Achane's 80-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left was an exclamation point on a victory that had to be wrestled away from Calallen, which led 10-6 at halftime.

Achane had 21 carries for 181 yards and three touchdowns — two coming in the second half.

Marshall was limited to three possessions in the first half by Calallen's ball-control offense with Achane's 4-yard touchdown being all the Buffs could muster. The extra-point try was missed, leaving Marshall with six points, its fewest in a half all season.

"We started making some adjustments at halftime," Marshall coach James Williams said. "They're such a class program over there. We had to make adjustments at halftime. It worked out well. Our guys were going to keep fighting the whole way. I was proud of them. They deserved it."

The adjustments indeed came.

Marshall quarterback Malik Hornsby was 6-of-14 for 100 yards. He excelled on Marshall's second drive of the second half.

Hornsby hit King twice — once for 13 yards on a crucial second-and-long and the second for 13 yards on a third-and-9 from the Calallen 21. The first completion set up Achane's 5-yard run on third down to keep the drive alive. The second one proceeded Achane's 9-yard touchdown run for a 19-10 Marshall lead with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.

Calallen's next drive was stunted by an illegal block. A holding call on the Wildcats' subsequent drive did the same. In between that, there was Achane again on the 80-yard score.

That and an interception by Jaylon Wilson appeared to be all Marshall would require against a team that relied heavily on the run.

But Calallen wasn't done, as evidenced by the one big pass the Wildcats completed — quarterback Jarrett Garza's 66-yard bomb to A.J. Brown with 3:02 left in the game.

It made things interesting once again, but nothing a dose of Hornsby and Achane runs couldn't rectify.

This wasn't a district shootout against Manvel or a playoff classic against Huntsville. This was different, adding to a Marshall season that has been full of ups and downs.

There's nothing that compares to what the Buffs had been through this week with the death of Conley.

Marshall may have been grieving but the players didn't have to do it alone.